


all i thought about

by lecornergirl



Category: Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: AU: gym challenge age limit is 18, Aged-Up Character(s), F/M, Pining, gloria dyes her hair and hop is Very into it, in this house we do not ship 12-year-olds, so much pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-27
Updated: 2020-01-27
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:28:43
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22427089
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lecornergirl/pseuds/lecornergirl
Summary: Hop has developed a number of strategies for dealing with the fact that he might be slightly more in love with his best friend than originally intended, where slightly means completely, absolutely, all-consumingly.Most of his coping strategies centre around keeping her in his peripheral vision at all times. He can't look directly at her. It's like looking at the sun.It all goes out of the window when she shows up at Motostoke for the opening ceremony with her hair dyed bright blue.
Relationships: Hop/Yuuri | Gloria
Comments: 9
Kudos: 206





	all i thought about

**Author's Note:**

> title from the mcfly song five colours in her hair because i think i'm funny
> 
> disclaimer: in my mind the age limit for the gym challenge is 18, everyone here is a consenting adult

Hop has developed a number of strategies for dealing with the fact that he might be slightly more in love with his best friend than originally intended, where slightly means completely, absolutely, all-consumingly. 

He plans to do something about it, one day—if only just to get it off his chest—but it never quite feels like the right time. He can imagine with perfect clarity the look in Gloria’s eyes as she turns him down, gently, as she tells him she only sees him as a friend, and he never quite wants to risk it. So he waits, and he copes. 

Most of his coping strategies centre around keeping her in his peripheral vision at all times. He can't look directly at her. It's like looking at the sun. 

It all goes out of the window when she shows up at Motostoke for the opening ceremony with her hair dyed bright blue. 

Hop does a double-take, and then just keeps on staring.

Gloria quirks an eyebrow. “Like what you see?” 

“It’s very… blue,” he says, and finally manages to turn his gaze elsewhere.

“That was kind of the point,” she says, laughing. “Mum never let me do anything wild, so I figured now’s my chance.”

“She’s still going to see it on TV,” Hop points out, and his gaze strays back to her hair. The sunlight bounces off it, making her short bob glow a thousand different shades of blue, like he’s staring into the ocean. 

Except the ocean doesn’t grin back, and Gloria does. “Yeah, well, she’s all the way in Postwick. What’s she going to do, send me an angry text?”

It takes Hop a moment to find the words to answer. He’s still looking at her hair, entranced, and there’s something building in the pit of his stomach. Like strands of Gloria’s hair extend all the way from her head to his gut, and they’re tugging at him. The blue is mesmerising, and suddenly Hop is aching to touch it, to run his hands through it, to see if it feels like he imagines, like water running over his skin. 

“Uh, I guess,” he says finally, when he realises Gloria is looking at him with a bemused expression. 

“You okay there, Hop?” she asks, taking a step toward him.

Hop shakes his head, like clearing water out his ears after a swim. “Yeah, I’m good. Sorry. Just zoned out for a second.”

Gloria raises her eyebrows, dubious, but lets it go without questioning it. “Okay then.” 

Hop opens his mouth, about to defend himself, but a League official shows up before he can say anything. Which is probably good, because he wasn’t at all sure what he was going to say. That could have ended badly.

“Challengers Hop and Gloria?” the League official asks, and they nod. “We’ve booked rooms for all theChallengers at the Budew Drop Inn. Follow me, please.” 

They follow him to the Inn, and Hop lets Gloria walk ahead of him. Because he’s a gentleman, and because it lets him stare at her hair bouncing back and forth without her calling him out on it. 

He stumbles and almost trips on the slight step up to the door of the Inn, but Gloria puts out a hand to steady him. “Eyes on the road, not on me,” she chides him. 

Hop splutters. “I’m not—I wasn’t—” but Gloria, already halfway across the lobby, just laughs. 

The League has booked them rooms next to each other, on the top floor of the Inn. They take the elevator up in silence. Gloria inspects her bangs in the mirror, and Hop tries not to be too obvious about watching her. She catches his eye in the reflection, though, and winks. Hop feels warmth rushing to his cheeks as he looks away.

Gloria is about to slip into her room and turn in for the night when Hop says “Hey,” without a plan for a follow-up, without any plan except to keep her in the hallway for just a few moments more.

She has the door open already, and when she turns to face him she’s silhouetted against the light spilling out of her room and into the hallway.

“I, uh,” Hop says, and mentally kicks himself. “I like your hair,” he finally manages to say.

“I figured,” Gloria says, and smirks at him. “Good night, Hop.”

“Good night,” he says, but she’s already closed the door. 

In his own room, Hop sees that his bed is against the wall separating his room from Gloria’s, because of course it is. He brushes his teeth and gets ready for bed, staying as far away from that wall as he can until he can’t avoid it anymore. He can hear her moving about in the other room, opening and closing the bathroom door, the thunk of something being set on a table. The walls must be thin here.

He settles into the bed carefully, trying not to jostle it too much so it doesn’t bump against the wall. He tries not to think about Gloria just on the other side of the wall, probably wearing the tiny pyjamas that torment him when they have sleepovers. 

He tries not to think about the fact that he’s half-hard already, just lying there and knowing how close Gloria is. He is determined not to touch himself, not tonight, because it feels just the tiniest bit sleazy. He’s gotten himself off to the thought of Gloria before, countless times, but never with her so close by. The thought feels wrong.

It feels wrong to his brain, but his dick clearly hasn’t gotten the message. Hop closes his eyes, trying to think of anything that might distract him, trying to keep his thoughts as non-sexual as possible, but he keeps seeing flashes of Gloria tossing her newly blue hair at him and smirking in the way that did funny things to his stomach long before he knew what crushes are.

His self-control has just started to win this battle when he hears it, a rumbling sound from the other side of the wall that starts low and builds up. He doesn’t recognise it at first, but then he hears Gloria make a soft little “ _oh,_ ” and moments later a sound that is unmistakably a moan. 

Realisation hits him like a Snorlax tackle. His hand instantly goes to his dick, which had snapped right back to attention at the sound of Gloria. All pretence at self-control has evaporated now, and it’s all he can do to turn his head and bite down on his pillow as he thrusts into his fist. The last rational thought present in his brain is that he needs to make sure Gloria can’t hear him, because then she would know that he heard her, and that would lead to a conversation he is not ready to have.

Gloria moans again, louder now, and Hop clenches his jaw around the pillow, his movements growing faster and more erratic. He can hear Gloria breathing heavily, practically panting, and the rumbling sound intensifies. Almost unintentionally he imagines Gloria in the room with him, straddling him, making those noises and looking down at him. 

In the other room, Gloria’s breath catches, she lets out a final moan, and the rumbling sound ends. Moments later, Hop comes all over his hand just as the Gloria in his imagination tips her head down, the blue curtain of her hair spilling forward until it just barely reaches his face. 

He doesn’t say anything about it the next morning, and hopes that Gloria puts his awkwardness down to the fact that he is, generally, a fairly awkward person. She doesn’t say anything outright, and he’s almost convinced himself that everything is normal, that Gloria isn’t aware they got themselves off within probably two feet of each other just hours ago.

He’s almost convinced himself of it, until she turns back right before they enter the stadium for the ceremony and _winks_ at him. 

Hop doesn’t remember much of the ceremony.

His newest coping strategy is to just throw himself into the Gym Challenge and into training his team so intensely that he doesn’t have time to think about anything else. Every waking moment is spent training, or studying old battles for strategy, or playing with his team in the hope that they’ll grow friendlier towards him, and it wears him out so much that most nights, he ends up falling asleep as soon as he gets into bed.

This strategy gets him through Turffield, where Gloria shows up with green hair, and all the way to Hulbury, where it’s blue again.

“Are you matching your hair to the gyms?” he asks. Gloria is wearing the top from the water gym uniform, and it doesn’t leave much to the imagination. Her hair is just long enough that the blue tips graze her collarbones, and Hop is fighting against flashbacks of her head tilted down, hair spilling over those collarbones to her breasts, the image so vivid it’s hard to believe he’s only imagined it, not actually seen it. His dick twitches and he wills it to calm down, to just hold on, to get him through this conversation without embarrassing himself.

“I thought it would be fun,” Gloria says, off-hand. 

“Fun is definitely a word for it,” Hop mutters. 

She turns up with bright red hair for the fire gym in Motostoke, and Hop is proud of himself for handling it with grace. It’s easier, now that he knows broadly what to expect since he can sort of predict it from the gym. 

But after Motostoke is Stow-on-Side, with Allister’s ghost-type gym. For this gym, Gloria has dyed her hair purple, almost the exact same shade as Hop’s own. It throws him for a loop, leaves him feeling unsteady in a way he can’t quite put a finger on. For the first time since the opening ceremony, his primary and most immediate reaction isn’t _oh no, I’m extremely into this_ , but something heavier.

It’s less about wanting and more about belonging. It’s about the fact that he’s always known Gloria is his family, that she’s it for him, and now they match, like they belong together. 

It’s kind of a lot to take in, and he’s glad when he runs into her in Glimwood Tangle on the way to Ballonlea and her hair is a pale pink, ready to face the fairy-type gym. 

“When did you even have time to dye it?” he asks. He’d seen her right after she’d defeated Allister, grinning and pushing her definitely still very purple hair out of her face. That had been only hours ago. 

“I’ve had time to do all kinds of things,” she says, and her tone implies that he’s missing something but he can’t quite figure out what.

After Ballonlea comes Circhester and the ice-type gym, and Gloria dyes her hair white to match. It isn’t until after she’s defeated Melony that she confesses she hates the look.

“I’m not old yet! I don’t want to look old.”

Hop laughs. “Well, I wasn’t going to say anything, but since you brought it up…” she shoves him.

They make plans to meet up again in Spikemuth, but Hop is absolutely not prepared for what awaits him there. He’d expected maybe black to match the dark-type gym, but Gloria has apparently decided to coordinate with the uniforms instead and shows up with bright pink hair.

It turns out that out of all the things, all the colours and all the smirks and winks of the past few weeks, this colour is what’s going to kill him. This, in the end, is what really does it for him, more even than the blue that was so mesmerising the first time he saw it. 

Gloria grins at him, like she always does. There’s a spark in her eye, like a challenge, and something in him snaps. 

“Okay, no, that’s it,” Hop says, and takes a step towards her. 

“What?” Gloria asks, the picture of innocence, but that’s as far she gets before Hop surges forward, wraps an arm around her waist to pull her closer, leans down to kiss her. 

“Took you long enough,” she says when they come up for air, and Hop huffs.

“What is this, ye olde medieval times? You could have done something, too.”

“I did do something,” Gloria says and gestures to where Hop is still running his fingers through the bright pink strands of her hair. The familiar smirk is back again. “And I know it worked, I heard you back in Motostoke.” 

“You—you heard that?” he gulps.

Gloria stands on her tiptoes, leaning in to whisper in his ear. “And I’ve thought about it every night since.”

A shiver runs down Hop’s spine, and he can feel his dick stirring. This time, he doesn’t even attempt to talk it down, just angles his hips towards her.

Gloria reaches up to kiss him this time, and he feels like every nerve ending in his body is electrified. He slides a hand under her shirt and trails his fingers up her sides, tracing his way up to the band of her bra. Gloria’s hands find his waistband, and she pulls back from his lips with a sigh.

“Of all the places to figure your shit out, you had to choose Spikemuth?” she asks.

“What’s wrong with Spikemuth?” he replies, most of his attention on her bra clasp.

“There’s no hotel here,” she points out. 

“Okay, look, I wasn’t exactly planning ahead, I just sort of reac—”

She interrupts him with a kiss, quick and sweet. “I know, but we’re here now.”

Hop looks around, surveying their surroundings. There doesn’t seem to be anyone around, and an idea is forming in his mind. Under normal circumstances, he wouldn’t even consider it, but Gloria’s hands are still playing at his waistband, and none of his usual concerns seem important.

“Okay, it’s a little risky, but—”

“Let’s do it,” Gloria says, before he can even tell her his plan. He grabs her hand and leads her a few steps away, to a small alleyway tucked between a building and the shutter closing off the town from the main route.

“Works for me,” Gloria says, hands going right back to his jeans. Hop guides her against the wall, leans in closer until he’s crowding into her, and ducks down to kiss the pulse point under her jaw. He’s had a while to think about what he wants to do to her, with her, and now that he’s here he wants to do everything at once.

One of his legs is wedged between Gloria’s thighs and she grinds down on it, like she’s looking for friction. Hop is tempted to make her wait, make her beg for it, but he’s wanted this for so long that he’s not sure he’s physically capable of holding out that long.

He slips a hand into her pants instead, finds his way past the waistband of her underwear and between her legs. Gloria moans softly, the sound just like the one he heard through the wall in Motostoke. 

He’s so focused on her, on coaxing out more of her noises, that he hardly notices her undoing his jeans. Her hand closes around his dick, and he sucks in a breath. “Fuck.”

“Not yet,” Gloria says, then swears on an inhale as his thumb brushes against her clit.

Hop tries to focus on what he’s doing and not on her hand around him, but it’s a war of attrition and both of their movements get sloppier by the second. It’s been a long time coming, though, and they’ve both been on edge for days, if not weeks. Through a stroke of miracle or genius, Hop manages to angle his fingers just right, and Gloria muffles her moans in his shoulder as she comes. She’s biting down just a little, and that combined with the way she reflexively curls her fingers a tiny bit tighter around his dick has him exploding all over her hand. 

Gloria tilts her head back, and Hop leans forward to rest his head against the wall. Their bodies are pressed close together, hands still tucked into trousers at awkward angles, and they’re both breathing heavily.

“Do you know what I just realised?” Gloria asks after a moment. 

Hop leans back and raises his eyebrows. “What?”

“We have a tent. Two, actually. So the lack of hotels isn’t really an issue.”

“Fuck, I love you,” Hop says, and stops. “I mean—not just because of the tent, also, like, in general—”

“I know, dumbass,” Gloria says, interrupting him before he starts rambling too badly. “I love you too.”

He grins. “So, tent?”

“Tent,” Gloria confirms and takes his hand, tugging him off to find a suitable camping spot. 


End file.
